Florida Coastal Everglades LTER - Personnel Profiles

Rolando Santos

FCE Site Role
Project Collaborator

Affiliation
Florida International University

Research
Marine spatial ecology, landscape ecology, GIS, trophic dynamics, essential fish habitats

FCE Working groups
Consumers, Consumer-Mediated Nutrient Transport

Contact
- Mailing address:
- Department of Biological Sciences
- Florida International University
- 11200 SW 8th St
- Miami, FL 33199
- Email: rsantosc@fiu.edu

FCE Publications (38)
Journal Articles
Jones, B.L.H., R.O. Santos, W.R. James, S. Shephard, A.J. Adams, R. Boucek, L. Coals, S.V. Costa, L.C. Cullen-Unsworth, and J.S. Rehage. 2025. Stakeholder diversity matters: employing the wisdom of crowds for data-poor fisheries assessments. Scientific Reports 15: 440.

Santos, R.O., M. White, W.R. James, N. Viadero, J. Massie, R. Boucek, and J.S. Rehage. 2025. Cause and consequences of Common Snook (Centropomus undecimalis) space use specialization in a subtropical riverscape. Scientific Reports 15: 2004.

Castillo, N., R.O. Santos, W.R. James, R. Rezek, D. Cerveny, R. Boucek, A.J. Adams, J. Fick, T. Brodin, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Widespread pharmaceutical exposure at concentrations of concern for a subtropical coastal fishery: Bonefish (Albula vulpes). Marine Pollution Bulletin 209, Part A: 117143.

Castillo, N., R.O. Santos, W.R. James, R. Rezek, D. Cerveny, R. Boucek, A.J. Adams, J. Fick, T. Brodin, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Differential tissue distribution of pharmaceuticals in a wild subtropical marine fish. Aquatic Toxicology 275: 107064.

Castillo, N., W.R. James, R.O. Santos, R. Rezek, D. Cerveny, R. Boucek, A.J. Adams, S. Trabelsi, A. Distrubell, M. Sandquist, J. Fick, T. Brodin, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Identifying pathways of pharmaceutical exposure in a mesoconsumer marine fish. Journal of Hazardous Materials 477: 135382.

Castillo, N., W.R. James, R.O. Santos, R. Rezek, D. Cerveny, R. Boucek, A.J. Adams, T. Goldberg, L. Campbell, A. Perez, J. Schmitter-Soto, J. Lewis, J. Fick, T. Brodin, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Understanding pharmaceutical exposure and the potential for effects in marine biota: A survey of bonefish (Albula vulpes) across the Caribbean Basin. Chemosphere 349: 140949.

James, W.R., B. Furman, J. Rodemann, S.V. Costa, Z.F. Fratto, J. Nelson, J.S. Rehage, and R.O. Santos. 2024. Widespread habitat loss leads to ecosystem-scale decrease in trophic function. Global Change Biology 30: e17263.

Jones, B.L.H., R.O. Santos, W.R. James, S.V. Costa, A.J. Adams, R. Boucek, L. Coals, L.C. Cullen-Unsworth, S. Shephard, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. New directions for Indigenous and local knowledge research and application in fisheries science: Lessons from a systematic review. Fish and Fisheries DOI: 10.1111/faf.12831.

Kahmann, G., J.S. Rehage, J. Massie, J. Nelson, R.O. Santos, N. Viadero, W.R. James, R. Boucek, D. Crane, and R. Rezek. 2024. Trophic niche of a nonnative invader and environmental drivers of its increasing populations in the coastal Everglades. Biological Invasions DOI: 10.1007/s10530-024-03444-w.

Calhoun-Grosch, S., E.M. Foster, W.R. James, R.O. Santos, J.S. Rehage, and J. Nelson. 2023. Trophic niche metrics reveal long-term shift in Florida Bay food webs. Ecosystems 26: 1183-1194.

Gervasi, C.L., M. Karnauskas, A. Rios, R.O. Santos, W.R. James, R. Rezek, and J.S. Rehage. 2023. Rapid approach for assessing an unregulated fishery using a series of data-limited tools. Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science, 15: e10270.

James, W.R., V. Bautista, R. Rezek, J.S. Rehage, and R.O. Santos. 2023. A review of the potential impacts of commercial inshore pink shrimp fisheries on the recreational flats fishery in Biscayne Bay, FL, USA. Environmental Biology of Fishes 106: 349-360.

Rezek, R., J. Massie, J. Nelson, R.O. Santos, N. Viadero, W.R. James, R. Boucek, and J.S. Rehage. 2023. The effects of temperature and flooding duration on the structure and magnitude of a floodplain prey subsidy. Freshwater Biology 68: 1518-1529.

Rezek, R., W.R. James, V. Bautista, I. Zink, J.S. Rehage, and R.O. Santos. 2023. Temporal trends of Biscayne Bay pink shrimp fisheries catch, economic indicators, and potential interactions with South Florida recreational flats fisheries. Environmental Biology of Fishes 106: 361-379.

Rodemann, J., W.R. James, J.S. Rehage, H. Baktoft, S.V. Costa, R.D. Ellis, L. Gonzalez, and R.O. Santos. 2023. Residency and fine-scale habitat use of juvenile goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) in a mangrove nursery. Bulletin of Marine Science 99: 111-118.

Gervasi, C.L., J. Massie, J. Rodemann, S. Trabelsi, R.O. Santos, and J.S. Rehage. 2022. Recreational angler contributions to fisheries management are varied and valuable: Case studies from South Florida. Fisheries 47: 469-477.

Gervasi, C.L., J. Nelson, P.K. Swart, R.O. Santos, R. Rezek, W.R. James, A.E. Jefferson, J.M. Drymon, J. Carroll, R. Boucek, and J.S. Rehage. 2022. Otolith stable isotope micro-sampling to discriminate poorly studied stocks: Crevalle Jack in the eastern gulf of Mexico. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 278: 108130.

Gervasi, C.L., R.O. Santos, R. Rezek, W.R. James, R. Boucek, C. Bradshaw, C. Kavanagh, J.K. Osborne, and J.S. Rehage. 2022. Bottom-up conservation: using translational ecology to inform conservation priorities for a recreational fishery. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 79: 47-62.

James, W.R., R.O. Santos, J. Rodemann, R. Rezek, Z.F. Fratto, B. Furman, M.O. Hall, C.R. Kelble, J.S. Rehage, and J. Nelson. 2022. Widespread seagrass die-off has no legacy effect on basal resource use of seagrass food webs in Florida Bay, USA. ICES Journal of Marine Science 79: 1831-1842.

James, W.R., R.O. Santos, J.S. Rehage, J.C. Doerr, and J. Nelson. 2022. E-scape: Consumer-specific landscapes of energetic resources derived from stable isotope analysis and remote sensing. Journal of Animal Ecology 91: 381-390.

Massie, J., R.O. Santos, R. Rezek, W.R. James, N. Viadero, R. Boucek, D.A. Blewett, A.A. Trotter, P.W. Stevens, and J.S. Rehage. 2022. Primed and cued: long-term acoustic telemetry links interannual and seasonal variations in freshwater flows to the spawning migrations of Common Snook in the Florida Everglades. Movement Ecology 10: 48.

Patrick, C. et al. 2022. A general pattern of trade-offs between ecosystem resistance and resilience to tropical cyclones. Science Advances 8: eabl9155.

Rehage, J.S., R. Boucek, R.O. Santos, J. Massie, N. Viadero, and R. Rezek. 2022. Untangling flow-ecology relationships: Effects of seasonal stage variation on Common Snook aggregation and movement rates in the Everglades. Estuaries and Coasts 45: 2059-2069.

Rodemann, J., W.R. James, R.O. Santos, B. Furman, Z.F. Fratto, V. Bautista, J. Hernandez, N. Viadero, J. Linenfelser, L.A. Lacy, M.O. Hall, C.R. Kelble, C. Kavanaugh, and J.S. Rehage. 2021. Impact of extreme disturbances on suspended sediment in western Florida Bay: Implications for seagrass resilience. Frontiers in Marine Science 8: 633240.

Hogan, J.A. et al. 2020. A research framework to investigate ecosystem responses to tropical cyclones. BioScience 70: 477-489.

Rezek, R., J. Massie, J. Nelson, R.O. Santos, N. Viadero, R. Boucek, and J.S. Rehage. 2020. Individual consumer movement mediates food web coupling across a coastal ecosystem . Ecosphere 11: e03305.

Boucek, R., A.A. Trotter, D.A. Blewett, J.L. Ritch, R.O. Santos, P.W. Stevens, J. Massie, and J.S. Rehage. 2019. Contrasting river migrations of Common Snook between two Florida rivers using acoustic telemetry. Fisheries Research 213: 219-225.

Eggenberger, C., R.O. Santos, T.A. Frankovich, W.R. James, C.J. Madden, J. Nelson, and J.S. Rehage. 2019. Coupling telemetry and stable isotope techniques to unravel movement: Snook habitat use across variable nutrient environments. Fisheries Research 218: 35-47.

Kroloff, E., J. Heinen, K.N. Braddock, J.S. Rehage, and R.O. Santos. 2019. Understanding the decline of catch-and-release fishery with angler knowledge: a key informant approach applied to South Florida bonefish. Environmental Biology of Fishes 102: 319-328.

Macreadie, P.I. et al. 2019. The future of Blue Carbon science. Nature Communications 10: 3998.

Massie, J., B.A. Strickland, R.O. Santos, J. Hernandez, N. Viadero, R. Boucek, H.E. Willoughby, M.R. Heithaus, and J.S. Rehage. 2019. Going downriver: Patterns and cues in hurricane-driven movements of common snook in a subtropical coastal river. Estuaries and Coasts 43: 1158–1173.

Rehage, J.S., R.O. Santos, E. Kroloff, J. Heinen, Q. Lai, B.D. Black, R. Boucek, and A.J. Adams. 2019. How has the quality of bonefishing changed over the past 40 years? Using local ecological knowledge to quantitatively inform population declines in the South Florida flats fishery. Environmental Biology of Fishes 102: 285-298.

Santos, R.O., J.S. Rehage, E. Kroloff, J. Heinen, and A.J. Adams. 2019. Combining data sources to elucidate spatial patterns in recreational catch and effort: fisheries-dependent data and local ecological knowledge applied to the South Florida bonefish fishery. Environmental Biology of Fishes 102: 299-317.

Santos, R.O., R. Schinbeckler, N. Viadero, M.F. Larkin, J.J. Rennert, J.M. Shenker, and J.S. Rehage. 2019. Linking bonefish (Albula vulpes) populations to nearshore estuarine habitats using an otolith microchemistry approach. Environmental Biology of Fishes 102: 267-283.

Strickland, B.A., J. Massie, N. Viadero, R.O. Santos, K.R. Gastrich, V.A. Paz, P. O'Donnell, A.M. Kroetz, D. Ho, J.S. Rehage, and M.R. Heithaus. 2019. Movements of juvenile bull sharks in response to a major hurricane within a tropical estuarine nursery area. Estuaries and Coasts DOI: 10.1007/s12237-019-00600-7.

Boucek, R., M.R. Heithaus, R.O. Santos, P.W. Stevens, and J.S. Rehage. 2017. Can animal habitat use patterns influence their vulnerability to extreme climate events? An estuarine sportfish case study. Global Change Biology 23: 4045-4057.

Santos, R.O., J.S. Rehage, A.J. Adams, B.D. Black, J.K. Osborne, and E. Kroloff. 2017. Quantitative assessment of a data-limited recreational bonefish fishery using a time-series of fishing guides reports. PLoS ONE 12: e0184776.

Santos, R.O., J.S. Rehage, R. Boucek, and J.K. Osborne. 2016. Shift in recreational fishing catches as a function of an extreme cold event. Ecosphere 7: e01335.

Recent FCE Leveraged Projects

Assessing impacts of trawling on species and habitats within Biscayne Bay
Authors: Santos, R.
Funding organization: National Park Service - Department of the Interior
Time period: 01 Jan 2025 - 01 Jan 2027

Assessing spatiotemporal responses to CERP by coastal fish assemblages across Everglades National Park
Authors: Santos, R.
Funding organization: National Park Service - Department of the Interior
Time period: 01 Sep 2024 - 01 Sep 2026

Coastal Everglades Lakes as habitat for recreational fisheries
Authors: Santos, R.
Funding organization: South Florida Water Management District
Time period: 01 Sep 2024 - 01 May 2025

Redesign of the Everglades fishing guide reporting system
Authors: Rehage, J., R.O. Santos
Funding organization: National Park Service - Department of the Interior
Time period: 01 Dec 2022 - 01 Jan 2025

Coastal Everglades Lakes as habitat for recreational fisheries
Authors: Santos, R.
Funding organization: South Florida Water Management District
Time period: 01 Aug 2023 - 01 Aug 2024

Effects of freshwater inflows and seagrass die-off on recreational fisheries: A trophic & movement ecology approach
Authors: Rehage, J., R.O. Santos, C.R. Kelble, M.O. Hall, J. Nelson
Funding organization: Everglades National Park
Time period: 01 Jan 2018 - 31 Dec 2023

Increasing knowledge of Biscayne Bay's science status and trends: Identify monitoring course of action through a synthesis of experts' knowledge
Authors: Santos, R.
Funding organization: Florida Sea Grant
Time period: 01 Dec 2022 - 01 Dec 2023

An examination of the risk of pharmaceuticals in South Florida: extent and pathways of exposure in a valuable recreational fishery, bonefish
Authors: Rehage, J., R.O. Santos, W.R. James
Funding organization: EPA
Time period: 01 Jan 2022 - 01 Jan 2023

Effects of seagrass die off on recreational fisheries: movement effects
Authors: Rehage, J., R.O. Santos, J. Rodemann
Funding organization: Ocean Tracking Network
Time period: 01 Jan 2020 - 01 Jan 2023

Abiotic effects on movement of Spotted Seatrout and Grey Snapper in response to a seagrass die-off
Authors: Rehage, J., J. Rodemann, R.O. Santos
Funding organization: FACT, Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA)
Time period: 01 Jan 2020 - 01 Jan 2021

Role of Florida Bay coastal embayments as fish habitat: linking the trophic and movement ecology of recreational fisheries
Authors: Rehage, J., T.A. Frankovich, R.O. Santos
Funding organization: South Florida Water Management District
Time period: 01 Jan 2019 - 01 Jan 2021

Examining the threat of pharmaceuticals to South Florida bonefish
Authors: Rehage, J., R.O. Santos, T. Brodin, J. Fick, P. Cardinali
Funding organization: Bonefish & Tarpon Trust
Time period: 01 Jan 2018 - 31 Dec 2020

Recent FCE Presentations
Goldner, V., W.R. James, J. Rodemann, R.O. Santos, M. White, C. Eggenberger, R. Boucek, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Gone but not forgotten: collaborative telemetry network provides insight into out-of-system movements of common snook. 2024 Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) Symposium, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 25, 2024.

White, M., W.R. James, R.O. Santos, J. Massie, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Temporal variability in estuarine consumer movement strategies: ecological causes and consequences. 2024 Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) Symposium, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, September 24, 2024.

James, W.R., J. Rodemann, J.S. Rehage, and R.O. Santos. 2024. Widespread seagrass loss leads to ecosystem-scale decrease in trophic function. 15th International Seagrass Biology Workshop, Napoli, Italy, June 19, 2024.

Rodemann, J., W.R. James, D. Gann, J.S. Rehage, and R.O. Santos. 2024. Development of an upscaled submerged aquatic vegetation leaf cover model for long-term time series analysis in Florida Bay. 15th International Seagrass Biology Workshop, Napoli, Italy, June 19, 2024.

Distrubell, A., N. Castillo, W.R. James, S. Trabelsi, R.O. Santos, D. Cerveny, R. Rezek, R. Boucek, A.J. Adams, J. Fick, T. Brodin, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. A Statewide survey of pharmaceutical exposure: Red Drum in Florida Estuaries. 44th Annual Meeting of the Florida Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, St. Augustine Beach, Florida, May 15, 2024.

Eggenberger, C., N. Viadero, R.O. Santos, R.M. Price, W.R. James, C.J. Madden, Y.P. Papastamatiou, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Seascape Heterogeneity drives movement strategy selection in estuarine predators. 44th Annual Meeting of the Florida Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, St. Augustine Beach, Florida, May 15, 2024.

Eggenberger, C., R.O. Santos, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Does movement strategy selection drive trophic niche separation in recreational mesoconsumer fishes? 44th Annual Meeting of the Florida Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, St. Augustine Beach, Florida, May 15, 2024.

Badlowski, G., M. Coppola, W.R. James, J.S. Rehage, and R.O. Santos. 2024. A multi-level approach to assessing nektonic biodiversity and community structure of seagrass seascapes. 2024 FCE LTER All Scientists Meeting, Fairchild Tropical Garden, Coral Gables, Florida, April 29, 2024.

Eggenberger, C., N. Viadero, R.O. Santos, R.M. Price, Y.P. Papastamatiou, and J.S. Rehage. 2024. Seascape heterogeneity drives movement strategy selection in estuarine predators. 2024 FCE LTER All Scientists Meeting, Fairchild Tropical Garden, Coral Gables, Florida, April 29, 2024.

Gomez Gonzalez, E., J. Nelson, J. Sturges, J.S. Rehage, R.O. Santos, and W.R. James. 2024. LTER Cross-site comparison of fiddler crab resource use along the U.S. Atlantic following range expansion. 2024 FCE LTER All Scientists Meeting, Fairchild Tropical Garden, Coral Gables, Florida, April 29, 2024.

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Personnel Profiles

Rolando Santos